Varoufakis: I will not be a candidate with a party that would aim to implement the agreement

Greece’s former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he will not be a candidate with a party that tries to implement the 13 July decision in the upcoming elections. He also concedes that “we betrayed the majority of the Greek people” who voted No in the referendum.

Varoufakis gave an interview to French magazine Nouvel Observateur saying that he “will not be a candidate of a party that would aim to implement the July 13 decision, even if this party has wide acceptance among Greek people.”

The former Finance Minister said he opposed the decision Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took to accept the proposals of Greece’s international creditors on July 13. According to Varoufakis, upon returning from the Euro Summit, Tsipras set a specific dilemma: Either we accept this agreement or the Wolfgang Schaeuble plan for the country’s exit from the euro is implemented.

The starting point for Grexit

“It is in this dilemma that my disagreement with Alexis Tsipras lies,” he said. “I personally believe that the acceptance of the third Memorandum is essentially the starting point for the country’s exit from the euro.”

Asked whether he will remain politically active, Varoufakis said that he will, whatever happens. He said that the questions of the Greek debt and austerity should be addressed on a European level. They should be addressed through the people and their representatives and not through the Eurogroup. He said there should be a European movement for more democracy in the Eurozone.